National Cancer Screening Register

Following a competitive tender process that commenced on 10 August last year, the Federal Department of Health has appointed Telstra Health to develop and operate the new National Cancer Screening Register.

Following a competitive tender process that commenced on 10 August last year, the Federal Department of Health has appointed Telstra Health to develop and operate the new National Cancer Screening Register (the Register), which will support the renewed National Cervical Screening Program and the expansion of the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program.

The commitment to establish a national cancer screening register was first announced in the 2015-16 Budget. Following a detailed Request for Tender (RFT) process, a contract for the service provider was signed on the 4th May 2016.

The Department of Health will now work with Telstra Health to implement the Register. There will also be significant collaboration with the Department of Human Services and the state and territory governments to transition nine separate cancer screening registers into a single National Cancer Screening Register. The Register is expected to be operational to align with the commencement of the renewed National Cervical Screening Program on 1 May 2017.

The Register will create a single view for Australians participating in cervical and bowel cancer screening, meaning for the first time: one record for each participant.

By integrating the Register with GPs’ desktops, GPs will be able to identify patients’ screening eligibility and history to support real time clinical decision-making. Health professionals, including pathology providers, will have improved access to their patients’ information.

It is estimated that over the next four years, streamlined invitation and reporting will benefit approximately 1.4 million women aged 25 to 74 years (both HPV vaccinated and unvaccinated), who will be invited to participate in cervical screening and almost 10 million eligible Australians aged 50 to 74 years, who will be invited to participate in bowel screening.

The register will be established under national legislation and the data included in the register continue will be owned by the Commonwealth (Health Department) and cannot be used for any other purpose. Any misuse of data could be an offence under the Criminal Code. All data are subject to privacy laws such that only personal information that is directly related to the Register may be collected, used and disclosed.

It should also be noted that the core software on which the Register will be built is already in use in Australian clinical settings and has built-in provisions to protect and hold patient and clinical information securely. All data will be stored in Australia in secure data storage facilities.

The Department of Human Services was eligible to participate in the tender, but did not apply.